When Stars Fall from the Sky
Birthday Surprises Today is my fourteenth birthday. My birthdays weren't really fancy. In fact, today is just a plain day for me, as if nobody's turning fourteen this very day. First things first, though. I'm Charlie. Charlie Gray, daughter of Athena. My father was missing somewhere in San Francisco, but let's not talk about that. Instead, let's talk about what was in the mail today. A gift. From Olympus. I opened it. It was a pair of safety scissors with the handles painted green with stickers of Lil' Monsters. Naturally, I was appalled. What kind of gift was that for a fourteen-year old? I started to throw the box away, the box with the babyish gift. That's when a card dropped to the floor. Written on it was: From: Athena, to Charlie. I gulped. If I didn't accept a god's gift I could turn into ashes within a few seconds. Sadly, I turned to my bunk and stuffed the box with the scissors in my camp chest. I tried to forget about the scissors. Unfortunately, Hermes appeared with a letter from Mom. The letter mentioned to keep the scissors always with me, as it was my weapon. Depressed, I threw open the lid of my camp chest and dug around for the white box. When I found it, I picked up the scissors and pocketed it. Then I went to the dining pavillion for breakfast. After a meal of pancakes, I trudged miserably to the arena for weapon practice. In weapon practice, we are only allowed our weapons given to us by our parents. I produced my scissors and looked at it. A bunch of Ares kids looked at me. "Hey, wise girl, where's your weapon?" A kid sneered. I cringed. I never liked the way the Ares kids says "wise girl". It was like a rude comment. I answered, "Here." and raised the scissors. They gaped at me then at the scissors, then fell over with laughter. "Lil' Monsters scissors?" They hooted. My face felt hot and was probably red with embarrassment. I ran to Annabeth and asked her if I could borrow her bow and arrows given to her by our mother. She agreed and handed me the weapons. Feeling guilty, I entered the arena to find the Ares kids still snickering at me. I scowled at them heavily and walked five feet away from them. Then, courtesy of my short temper, I poised my bow just right directly at my target: the Ares kids' butts. I shot arrow after arrow, and they impaled themselves perfectly on the target. The Ares kids now shrieked with pain and made way for the infirmary. "That was funny." Said a chuckling voice behind me. Josh Mclean, the demititan son of Hyperion, was seated on the bleachers, polishing his sword and laughing. "My weapon?" I growled, hefting Annabeth's bow. Josh shook his head. "No. The part where you shot the Ares kids' butts. They are pests." I nodded. "Yeah. They are." Josh smiled. I turned my back to him to return Annabeth's bow when he said, "Happy Birthday!" I was shocked. I didn't know Josh knows my birthday. Only my cabinmates and Chiron knows it. I feebly turned back to him and said "Thank you." Then I stalked out of the arena. Falling Stars After sending quite a few kids in the infirmary during training, I met with Chiron, who was whistling happily. "Happy Birthday, Charlie!" He greeted me. "And as a treat, we are going to the beach to see a meteor shower! Think of it as a gift from the gods!" He patted me on the shoulder. Instead of feeling grateful that two people had now greeted me a happy birthday, I felt sulky, because I remembered my stupid scissors. When the sun had set, we went to dinner. It was an unnatural good feast, and after the meal we were stuffed and kind of sleepy. Everybody was excited with the meteor shower though. Couples started going to the beach to find a good spot for the show. I stood alone at a corner of the beach, chewing gum and rolling my eyes once in awhile as the sound of romantic giggling and sighing filled my ears. Then a silver comet flashed across the sky, accompanied by two more. The crowds oohed and ahhed. All the Aphrodite kids shrieked in delight. Falling stars streaked across the sky. Forty more. Then ten. It made the night seem like mid-afternoon. It struck me as weird that there was so many falling stars in just one occasion. Something is not right. But nobody else noticed it. They were busy enjoying the meteor shower. I frowned and sauntered off the beach, feeling sick. I decided this was my worst birthday ever. Category:Storm Legends